Chicago Public Schools gave a car to a 12-year-old for perfect attendance over a three-month period. This is the first time the schools system has given away a car to encourage attendance. By attending school every day within any one of three time periods, a total of 189,115 students were eligible for the Dodge Caliber. Of those, about 150 names were randomly selected, and those students and their parents were invited to a dealership on......

Chicago schools are out for the summer, but education reporting gets no such vaycay. A new study shows the revamped SATs don't do a better job of predicting college grades than the old SATs. The new test, which includes a writing portion, is, like the older test, a better predictor for women than men and for whites than minorities. What the study fails to mention is that the new SATs have also created an uncrossable......

Erika Prince, 32, was shot and killed yesterday near 87th and Euclid. Prince was a special education teacher at Arthur Dixon elementary school, where she'd taught for the last six years, and she herself was an alumn. Her nine-year-old daughter is an honor student there, too. Prince was shot while parked outside a relative's house, while her niece and two children went inside to pick up their things. Police haven't identified a motive yet and......

An all-star principal for CPS is facing embezzlement charges. Mirna Diaz Ortiz pleaded not guilty to a 42-count indictment that charges she forged checks and stole $35,000, but her lawyers aren't arguing that she didn't do these things--they're arguing she's not criminally liable. Her attorney, Steven Hunter, said Diaz has paid back $23,000 and plans to pay back the rest. "We expect that when the trial is concluded, and both sides have been heard, that......

Two teenagers have been charged as adults in the weekend killing of 18-year-old Chavez Clarke, who was shot on his way out of Saturday classes at Simeon Career Academy. Samuel Hill, 17 (far left), and Roland Little, 19 (left), were charged with first-degree murder; police say Clarke and Hill, the shooter, had on-going beef. Students from Simeon are planning a rally at the State of Illinois building downtown tomorrow to protest against gun violence. Clarke......

Photo by Only-Connect Today's long read, totally worth it: Violin prodigy Rachel Barton Pine's career was put on hold after a Metra accident severed her left leg and mangled her right in 1995. Now her career's getting back on track, but the road hasn't been easy. [Trib] The New York Times is Chicago-crazy today, with stories about the Butterfly Social Club's earthy, nonalcoholic vibes, and Jody Weis's proposed mandatory fitness tests for cops. And......

More than 200 high school students, residents of the ABLA Homes, haven't been to school since March 7 because they're afraid of gang retaliation following the murder of one of their classmates. When spring break ends next week, Crane students from ABLA -- also known as "the Village" -- will gather at one central location each morning. CTA buses will pick them up after they've walked en masse to the bus stop.Then a Chicago Police......

We love you, old-timey baseball dudes. [Link] Could CPS open a handful of boarding schools? Arne Duncan is thinking about it. [Trib] NIU gunman Steven Kazmierczak's autopsy revealed that he had "less than .5 micrograms of nicotine, less than .025 micrograms of a residual antidepressant called Alprazolam (also known as Xanax), and traces of the cold medicines benzodiazepine and pseudophedrine" in his body. [S-T] The new One Book, One Chicago pick is Raymond Chandler's The......

Photo by James at 42 Around 50 CPD officers currently on desk duty will be reassigned to street patrol near a handful of Chicago Public Schools. [S-T] A fire at a Leaks and Sons Funeral Home on 78th and Cottage Grove damaged the remains of five adults and two children. [Trib] Illinois is in the throes of a nasty flu season. [CBS 2] Ten things you might not know about the Chicago Park District.......

A 15-year-old is being charged as an adult in Friday's shooting outside Crane Tech Prep Common School. Devonte Smith is accused of killing 18-year-old Ruben Ivy. Smith, a sophomore, is allegedly a member of the New Breeds gang, and according to the Sun-Times already had "15 arrests for offenses including aggravated assault with a weapon, domestic violence, mob action, marijuana possession, and aiding and abetting the sale of a stolen vehicle." Smith's defense attorney says......

Photo by A Funky Damsel The Red Line is going to be jacked this weekend. Southbound trains will be running on the elevated tracks between Cermack and Fullerton stops.[CTA] Kaushik Patel, who is accused of murdering his two young sons by setting them on fire, tells the Trib that he only intended to kill himself. [Trib, kind of freaky photo of Patel] One person was shot and killed, and another person beaten with a......

Eight Chicago Public School students were shot this weekend, three of whom died. So far, 17 CPS students have died from gun violence this school year; last year, 27 students died as a result of gunshots. That was a tragic high, and this year is on pace for the same number of young people dying--Mayor Daley? How's that gun control stuff going? Mr. Governor? We know you want to build a new building at NIU,......

A new study released today says that 44 percent of CPS freshman don't graduate, and 73 percent of those drop-outs were "over age" when they started high school. While there's no one reason students drop out, there are a lot of factors that indicate how at-risk a kid is. From the Sun-Times: According to the study, missing more than 10 days of school or failing two or more courses in the fall semester of freshman......

Photo by Deltaspy The Sun-Times takes a look at "elimination communication," a technique some parents are using to toilet train their very young children. Perhaps you read about it. In the New York Times. In 2005. [S-T, NYT.] Police are investigating the human remains discovered in Downers Grove but so far can't establish age, race, or how long ago the man died. [Trib] Alinea won Restaurants & Institutions magazine’s Ivy Award, which is a......

Looks like the school with the book pile is also chucking a piano. You could hold one spooky effing recital, Eholubow.......